


operation: wings and beer

by sadrewgarfield



Category: Generation Kill
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:47:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25756093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadrewgarfield/pseuds/sadrewgarfield
Summary: Poke hadn't been expecting  Brad Colbert and Ray Person on his doorstep, early on a September morning.“Hey, man, you doing anything today? Wanna grab some lunch?”
Relationships: Brad Colbert/Ray Person
Comments: 17
Kudos: 80





	operation: wings and beer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ruuhroh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruuhroh/gifts).



They don’t do it on the day it happens, or even in the first week, because that would be cliche and “super gay, homes,” as Ray loudly and frequently proclaimed to anyone who’d listen, “like even gayer than every time I’ve sucked his dick. Put together. And dude, I’ve sucked his dick a lot.” Every time Brad pretended he wasn’t listening and told anyone around that they didn’t need to do it, they’re perfectly fine how they are. 

They’d been together longer than most people knew, hiding from rules and regulations and avoiding detection even as they fell in love over the gear stick of a Humvee. Their platoon had joked that they were like an old married couple long before Brad had thrown all caution to the wind and kissed Ray, hidden under the camo-netting attached to their Humvee. 

But Poke had known it was coming. He hadn’t known them when they’d met, but he’d heard stories of the scrappy 19-year-old pushing as hard against regulations as he could get away with, and of Brad before his Iceman persona truly froze into place and he was faster and looser with laughter at the new recruit’s non-stop stream of inane babble. He’d known them before they were together, and he’d known them when they were together but weren’t allowed be, and he’d known them when they could finally be _seen_ as together, witnessed the first time Brad had come home from deployment and Ray had been waiting for him with the rest of the families, rather than sitting at home as just a roommate. 

So, he’d known, he’d waited, he’d expected _something_ , but whatever it was he’d been expecting _hadn’t_ been Brad Colbert and Ray Person on his doorstep, early on a September morning. “Hey, man, you doing anything today? Wanna grab some lunch?” Ray gave no explanation as to why they’d be leaving for lunch at 10am, but Tony was a recon marine and, more importantly, he wasn’t a fool, it didn’t take much to figure out why Ray’s hair was actually neat for once and why Brad’s shirt was ironed and buttoned almost to the top. 

“We thought we could go and grab some wings and a couple of beers. If you’d like to join us. Right now.” Poke knew he’d be going with them anyway, but now, after Brad’s odd, excited formality, there wasn’t a chance in hell he was going to miss this and all the ammunition he’d have against these idiots in the future.

“Sure man, you fools seem dressed pretty fancy for beers and wings, do I need to change?” He’d taken his kids to dance class that morning and, according to Gina, was in some grade-A dad clothes. 

“Nah, man, you’re never gonna be hotter shit than me, so this is fine. We’ll even drive, dude. As the corporate dicksucks I work for always say, ‘time is money!’ Let’s go!” Ray was turning and heading towards their car before he’d even finished speaking. 

“Hang on, I need to let Gina know.” He popped his head back into the house “Gin’, baby, I’m going to have lunch with Brad and Ray. Let me know if you or the girls need anything.” He called back “love you too,” in reply to her goodbye. 

Brad was watching, “She’s got you whipped, man, it’s cute, remember when you used to be a big, tough Marine?”

Poke placed his hand between Brad’s shoulders and pushed, “hurry up man, I was promised wings, and I know you’re not gonna let me ride shotgun, you fucking giant. And Gina is scarier than any of the morons we had in charge of us over there.” When he climbed into the backseat of Ray’s truck, he was surprised to see Walt Hasser on the other side of the bench, “Hey man, long time.” 

“Hey Poke, yeah, these two asked me to fly over and Ray still owed me twenty bucks, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to get _wings and beer_.” Walt seemed to have figured out exactly what their code meant, too. “How’s Gina and the kids?” Wherever Ray was driving them, he seemed to know exactly where he was going, so Walt and Tony swapped photos of their kids back and forth for the ride over. 

When Ray pulled to a stop not even ten minutes later, Walt and Tony watched as Brad looked at Ray, then looked at them in the rearview mirror. “We’re not getting wings and beer. Yet. We have something to do first, and we would like it if you would be there. With us. When we,” he cleared his throat, faltering.

Ray laughed “Ol’ emotionally constipated Iceman coming through again. You’re lucky you’re so hot, babe. It makes up for the complete lack of brain cells you’ve got behind that pretty face of yours.” He turned around in the seat, purposefully pushing Brad’s head out of the way at the same time. “Me and Brad. We’re getting hitched, and who better to witness it than our two best pals, or in Poke’s case, the person who tolerates us the most. It’ll be short, like a shotgun wedding, except without the unplanned pregnancy, my Ma’ll be so proud. Then, we’ll google the cheapest fucking wings and beer within a four-block radius and party the night away. We all in? Awesome. Get the fuck out of my car.” And then he climbed out of the driver seat and started to drum his hands on the roof of the car.

Walt looked to Brad “You made me come out here to witness your wedding?” Brad shrugged, “Of course, you’re Ray’s best friend. And it’s not a wedding, there’s no big party, or guest list, or _parents_ , we’re just signing some paper and then we’ll have a drink to celebrate.” 

Ray’s drumming had been getting progressively louder and more off-rhythm “Come on, come on, come on, my biological clock is ticking, I need to lock down his sweet ass before my balls start to sag with old age.”

The rest of them climbed out of the car, and they headed towards the courthouse, Brad had a stack of paper in one hand, and the other was thrown across Ray’s shoulder, just like it had always seemed to be since the moment they’d met - leading, protecting, anchoring the two of them together.

Tony had never been to a courthouse wedding, but Ray and Brad sorted out the paperwork with the clerk, and Walt and Tony filled out and signed some forms then watched as Brad and Ray whispered quiet vows to each other. “This is the literally gayest thing we have ever done, so if I see you dumbfucks listening I’ll break into your house and jerk off into your coffee every morning. Now shut up, I gotta weave some beautiful fucking love poetry for this giant ice sculpture I’m hitching my trailer to forever.” 

Walt and Tony couldn’t hear what they said, but it was enough to see the soft smiles that overtook their faces and the tears in Brad’s eyes and the way Ray’s hands shook a little. Brad and Ray kissed, and Walt and Tony - rowdy marines til the day they died - hooted and hollered until the clerk asked them to quiet down. They signed the wedding certificate, the entire affair had taken less than an hour. 

Brad had his arm around Ray’s shoulder again and was pulling him gently to lean on Brad, while Ray fucked around on his phone, looking for someone they could get the promised chicken wings. They didn’t have rings on their fingers, and when Walt had asked why, Brad had told them Ray had forced him to go to a jeweler, trying on increasingly ugly and gaudy rings for hours until he’d admitted he hadn’t wanted a ring anyway.

Ray yelped, “Yo, you’re not gonna believe what I found, homes, this is _the best day of my life_.”

“I should hope so, Ray, we just got married.”

“Nah, man, I found where we can have lunch, there’s a _HOOTERS_ like two blocks away. You’ve got good tits, you should fill out an application form while we’re there.”

Tony watched as Brad laughed and gently pushed Ray towards their car. Yeah, he’d known this was coming for a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> this is a gift for my friend, eddie, who got me into genkill!


End file.
